Track the business activity and commercial plans of Maidstone Borough Council — identify tender and future spending opportunities before they reach the market, follow cabinet and committee decisions, and understand the council’s priorities, with intelligence extracted from 29 analysed meetings.
Meetings analysed29
Procurement opportunities12
Pressures tracked25
Estimated pipeline value£230m–£277m
Active procurement topics
Over the last 12 months, the most frequently discussed commercial topics in this council's meetings have been Housing (36 mentions, easing), Construction & Building Works (34 mentions, rising), Professional Services (32 mentions, easing) and Democracy & Elections (28 mentions, easing).
Commercial signals extracted from recent Maidstone Borough Council meetings — approvals, budget decisions and early procurement discussions, before a tender is published.
Cabinet agreed not to progress the Regulation 19 Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople DPD, to instruct officers to formally withdraw it, and to address the issue within the emerging local plan instead. The key driver was that the site allocation requirements and the Planning Inspectorate methodology were seen as unworkable within the timetable to December 2026.
“The distance between the council and the Planning Inspectorate is still so wide that there is no chance of meeting their deadline for submission of the DPD, which is December 2026. Because there are still some very significant issues, particularly around allocations and essential…”
Members approved the community governance review to create a Maidstone Town Council, with a named vote of 28 in favour, nine against and five abstentions. Debate highlighted implications for precept setting, use of community infrastructure levy and future local representation, but the recommendation was carried.
“Just to remind you that the um what you're voting on is the outcome of the community governance review summarized by the 1 of April 2027. And then what the electoral view process is plus the appropriate delegation. So just remind you that's what you're voting on. So if you could…”
The council confirmed cumulative expenditure on Heathlands had reached about £2.9 million by quarter four of the last financial year, with £1.1 million remaining in the approved budget. The remaining funds will be used for planning documents and promotion up to submission of the outline application, within a wider £4 million overall budget.
“The total project expenditure of Heathland's by the council to quarter four of this last financial year was about 2.9 million leaving a budget of 1.1 million available to the council. When we answered I answered the question two months ago it was about 1 million. So it's a very s…”
The committee debated a major policy change to the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Show People Development Plan Document after the Planning Inspectorate required existing sites to be formally allocated. Officers warned this was a significant departure from the earlier flexible approach, with concerns about deliverability, accuracy of need figures, and whether the plan would be sound.
“Yes, uh on the one hand, uh we are committed to taking forward and recommending to you on a technical point of view the recommendations of the report, taking forward the development plan document. But, this is based purely on the basis that this is the scenario, the document, the…”
The committee discussed continuing the council's temporary accommodation purchase and repair programme using approved capital budget and underspend brought forward from phase 7A. The next phase has £3.4 million available to acquire further properties, with a focus on one- and two-bedroom units for temporary accommodation and larger homes for resettlement.
“This report relates to the continuation of the council's temporary accommodation purchase and repair program as well as highlighting the intention to utilize monies from the latest round of local authority housing fund, LAHF, to acquire properties used for the resettlement of Afg…”
Members refused a 15MW solar farm in the Kent Downs National Landscape after concluding that, despite improvements to woodland planting and new ponds, the scheme still caused unacceptable harm and did not provide sufficient exceptional circumstances to override national landscape protections. Debate focused on the balance between energy security, biodiversity uplift, land quality, and the statutory duty to conserve the landscape.
“"And just lastly, a correction for the first reason refusal. It should refer to part two of policy SP9 and not one. It's just a typo. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Tim. Okay. Now we move on to Mr. China. Good evening members. Under NPF paragraph 176, development in areas of…”
The committee scrutinised a call-in of the Lockmeadow improvements decision, focusing on whether the council had enough evidence to justify spending £250,000 and giving notice to current market users. Members and speakers raised concerns about weak data, lack of consultation, unclear impacts on traders, and whether the Tuesday and Saturday markets should be decoupled from any Market Hall changes. The committee unanimously asked cabinet to reconsider, to separate the market from the Market Hall decision, to run a public consultation, and to bring back a future options paper through committee.
The meeting focused on establishing the shadow town council’s leadership and progressing recruitment of a town clerk/lead officer. Members agreed the chair and vice chair would join the recruitment panel, with two substitute members named, and the council confirmed it is already incurring setup and recruitment costs on behalf of the future town council until it has its own income stream.
The committee reviewed the council’s draft accounts, external audit progress, internal audit opinion, treasury management, and budget risk assessment. Key procurement-related themes were capital programme slippage, continued borrowing and debt restructuring to support housing and development, disposal of surplus temporary accommodation assets, and governance changes affecting planning and housing rents. Members also raised concerns about ICT controls, temporary accommodation demand, local government reorganisation, and the future of council assets and shared services.
Cabinet discussed a wide range of procurement and spending decisions, with major focus on catapult misuse enforcement, the medium-term financial strategy, asset disposals to parish councils, allocation of last year’s underspend, violence against women and girls action funding, Lock Meadow improvements, cremator replacement procurement, strategic CIL allocations, an Article 4 planning direction, and acquisition of Section 106 housing units. The meeting repeatedly weighed whether proposals were affordable, deliverable, and likely to achieve the intended operational or community outcomes. Several decisions created follow-on procurement work, including specifications, tenders, project boards, and future contract or asset transfer activity.
The committee reviewed the Cobtree Manor Estate quarterly update and financial position. Key procurement-related items were funding for biodiversity improvements from golf course turnover rental, support for educational visits to Kent Life via a £5,000 charity donation from gift aid income, and discussion of a potential fountain proposal for the golf course. Members also noted operational pressures including visitor trends, car park capacity, coach travel costs, and water scarcity affecting irrigation and rainwater harvesting.
The committee considered three main planning matters with procurement implications. It approved a town-centre pocket park scheme that would resurface highway land and add landscaping, benches and trees, at the cost of losing parking spaces. It also approved a large poly-tunnel agricultural scheme after debate over flood risk, landscape impact and drainage conditions, and approved a 19MW solar farm near an industrial estate and floodplain with conditions on landscaping, drainage and construction management. A tree preservation order was confirmed, and the committee discussed improving member training, including planning guidance and site visits.